Happy Birthday Kamal Haasan: A lone wolf of Indian cinema who never compromised

Happy Birthday Kamal Haasan: A lone wolf of Indian cinema who never compromised

When asked about his best work, Kamal Haasan, the masters of arts, smiled and said, "When they allow me to make it."

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Srivatsan

November 7, 2016

UPDATED: November 7, 2016 16:31 IST

Why Kamal Haasan is a lone wolf of Indian cinema

After being a school dropout, an eight-year-old kid asks his mother Rajalakshmi for her guidance. She gives him a dosage of a very subtle yet powerful piece of advice. She says, "Son, even if you become a janitor, I'm fine with it. But people should say that nobody can clean the toilet as much as you do." Fortunately, the same kid cleared most of the societal norms with his oeuvre. He also grew up to become one of the finest actors of Indian cinema that we have today. This should a fitting prologue to the master of arts, Kamal Haasan.

In the realm of art, Kamal Haasan is probably the only actor in Indian cinema, who has checked the most number of boxes. At the same time, a grim fact is that he's the most underrated artist as well. An important question to prod here is: Why? Let the truth be told, that's because he has never compromised at what he does.

In the '70s, while superstar Rajinikanth was trying to make inroads in Tamil cinema, Kamal Haasan was already an established actor and a superstar himself. In some ways, it was also the golden period for Haasan as every film of his turned out to be a Midas touch at the box office. Kamal Haasan, a thespian, was born in the '70s, who was also the frontrunner in breaking the MGR-Sivaji patriarchy.

With a super stardom on the rise, none of the actors would have agreed to play the character Chappani, who roams mostly in his undies in 16 Vayathinile (1977). However, when Bharathiraja approached Haasan to play a loafer Chappani, Haasan didn't shy away from donning the character and the rest is history.

Likewise, after the stupendous success of 16 Vayathinile, Bharathiraja and Kamal Haasan came together for Sigappu Rojakkal (1978). Nobody apart from Kamal would have had the gall to portray such a grey-shaded character Dileep, whose objective is to prey on innocent women, rape them and bury them in his garden among red roses. This goes the same for K Balachander's Apoorva Raagangal (1975) that explored a wide angle relationship between Prasanna (Kamal Haasan) and Bhairavi (Sri Vidya). At a time when one's stardom subverts one's expertise, Haasan never said, "No means no."

Kamal Haasan's oeuvre is embodied with an undying love and passion. And that was evident when he went naked for Aalavandhan/Abhay (2001).

In cinema, there are two kinds of actors- one who's a damn-good faker and the other, who pushes boundaries eyeing for perfectionism. Arguably, Haasan belongs to the second category.

Be it the Karate artist Upendra in Enakkul Oruvan (1984), Kuchipudi dancer Balakrishna in Sagara Sangamam (1983), or the military commander Vijay in Aalavandhan, Kamal Haasan not only brought life to these characters, but also mastered the craft to retain originality.

Lately, people on social media, heap praise on the Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's body transformation for Dangal. Be it Aalavandhan or Swathi Muthyam (1986), Kamal Haasan was the pioneer. Shahrukh Khan will be playing a dwarf in his upcoming film with Anand L Rai, people will once again make noise for the Baadshah of Bollywood. Hey! Remember Apoorva Sagodharargal/Appu Raja (1989)?

The blatant truth is, when it comes to cinema, Kamal Haasan has left no stone unturned and let's just leave it there.

Despite having Rajinikanth as his counterpart, Haasan never ceased to experiment with films like Uyarnthavargal (1977), Guna (1991), Pesum Padam (1987), Avvai Shanmugi (1996) and Uthama Villain (2015). However, like how he wryly says in Uthama Villain, he had the control over the entire industry at one point. But he chose 'good' cinema over box office numbers. He chose Tamil cinema over Bollywood. He chose Indian cinema over Hollywood.

And the sad part is, nobody really cared about his artistry for one who holds the highest number of Oscar submissions in India. Yes, google it!

But what did the government give him in return? His nationality was questioned when he directed Hey Ram (2000). He was forced to apologise for beautifully portraying the third world politics in Vishwaroopam (2013). Despite being a rational atheist, Haasan was branded as a pseudo-brahmin after Dasavatharam (2008). He was asked to chop off certain lines in his poem from Manmadhan Ambu (2010).

It's funny that an actor-filmmaker, who tries to position Indian cinema on the global context, is asked to compromise every single-time. Recently, he has been conferred with the prestigious Chevalier honour by the French government. How many times does the West teach us to honour our very own people?

In retrospect, I was fortunate to have been part of a lecture that Kamal Haasan delivered in 2009 at IIT Madras. When asked about his best work, Haasan smiled and said, "When they allow me to make it."